I used to think the most interesting thing about me was that I’m a dancer.

I’ve grown up in the dance world. Dancing at EDD for 11 years, and competing on MoDazz Performing Arts Co. for 9 years, I consider myself a dancer before anything else. Dance has shaped me into the person I am today.

Learning how to take corrections and apply them, memorizing at least ten dances every season, keeping track of the different costumes for each of those dances, dancing every night for two weeks straight between practices and competitions, all while balancing schoolwork along with it.

It’s taught me discipline, leadership, responsibility, and perseverance. All qualities that I’ve come to pride myself on having. But most importantly it’s given me my second family, and my second home. Being a part of this community is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I’ve met people who are now family even more than teammates and coaches, made friends who I see as sisters.

I realize now that being a dancer is not the most interesting thing about me, but that it has created a place for the most interesting things about me to take shape.

I gained a much deeper understanding of my own abilities through this process. Choreographing and filming these pieces, there was no vision to measure up to except for my own. I spent a lot of time watching videos of myself over and over again, picking up small details like the way my hand was bent and cutting off a line, or how I should have drawn something out for just a fraction of a second longer. There are probably 50 different videos in my camera roll between the three pieces on this website. It was discouraging at times, feeling like I just couldn’t get a take I was happy with, but when it did finally click, the feeling of accomplishment was so fulfilling.